The project involves a comparative analysis of administration of juvenile justice based on existing data in Brazil and the USA. Data have been collected from court records in the State of Guanabara, Brazil, and the State of Pennsylvania, USA, covering the same time period (1966-1968). Within each set of data, the focus will be on (1) the relation between the social characteristics of the juveniles and the types of offenses committed, and (2) the court's patterns of processing. The objective of comparison between the Brazilian and the American data is to identify and explain patterns of similar and different associations. That is, given comparable variables, are they associated in similar or different patterns in each culture? Similarity of association would reinforce the basis for generalization, and dissimilarity puts in question patterns accepted as universal in intracultural settings. An attempt will be made to identify sociostructural indicators of relevant cultural differences that can account for cross-cultural discrepancies in cases of intracultural consistency. Since most variables are nominal, analysis will be conducted mostly through standard cross-tabulation and control techniques as well as through more powerful techniques such as the THAID algorithm. This project is seen as a short-term means of testing generalizations on juvenile delinquency. The major assumption is drawn from labelling theories that the existence of systematic processing biases have a selective effect on who becomes officially a delinquent independently of law prescriptions and officially stated beliefs.